


In A World Like This

by PsychoDolphin



Category: Free!
Genre: A Blatant Disrespect for Airport Security, Angst and Fluff, Getting Together, GiveSousukeADream2018, M/M, Mild Language, Song fic, Sousuke Looking for his Dream, Take Your Marks ended me guys, all in the name of love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 18:18:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14939406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoDolphin/pseuds/PsychoDolphin
Summary: Taking place at the end of Take Your Marks!, Rin is about to head to Australlia, and thinks about how hard saying goodbye is. But maybe he doesn't have to say goodbye to everyone.AKA: My favorite band and my favorite show both had an increase in activity, and together they formed SouRin angst and fluff.





	In A World Like This

**Author's Note:**

> So if you haven't seen Take Your Marks! yet and haven't heard anything about Season 3, there are some spoilers! This is Rin on his way to Australia, just like at the end of the movie, Except this is how I wish it had happened. Because damn it, Sousuke needs to find a dream and I just want him to be happy!  
> Also, i didn't actually plan on posting this, so it's been edited, but not very well.

The airport was noisy and crowded, a dull roar that Rin did his best to ignore. As much as he loved flying, and was excited to be going back to Australia, the airport itself was always his least favorite part of the entire commute.

Well, second least favorite, really.

Becasue the worst part was saying goodbye. Knowing that, unlike when he had been going to school in Australia, and coming home for breaks, he really wasn’t sure when he would come home. Which meant saying goodbye to everyone, and knowing all they would have for the next year or so would be phone calls and texts and video chats in the evenings, slipped in between swim practice and college and high school classes. It was only an hour time difference, but with how busy everyone would be, it would still be hard. He wouldn’t get to see his sister most weekends or at joint practices. Makoto and Haru were in Tokyo, which, for some reason, felt even farther from away than Iwatobi did. Momo and Nitori… Saying goodbye to them had been hard, almost harder than saying goodbye to Haru. He knew he would swim with Haru again. But who knew when he would see Nitori or Momo again, or if they would swim together again. Maybe, if they made it to nationals again, he would try and come back, even just for a day. Maybe it was just the fact that they had lived together for so long that made it difficult to imagine not being around them all the time, not seeing them every morning.

Rin huffed and reached into his bag, pulling out the earbuds Momo had given him as a going-away gift. He shoved them into the jack on the phone and cracked up the volume, letting the heavy beat of the music down out his other thoughts. Because of all the goodbyes he’d had over the last day, it was the lack of one that hurt the most.

He had been texting Sousuke almost nonstop even since they had last seen each other two days earlier. But this morning, when when had texted him good morning, he hadn’t gotten a response. Sure, they had agreed not to really say goodbye, because they would see each other again. Saying goodbye felt too much like last time, when they had both been children, when   
Rin started to chase this dream. So when they had last seen each other, the air had been heavy with everything they wanted to say, but couldn’t. _I’ll miss you_ , _I’ll come back_ .  Then there were the other words, the ones that they had both come so close to saying, but couldn’t. _I don’t want you to go, I don’t want to leave, I don’t want to be away from you_.

Rin frowned, trying in vain to turn the volume of his music up louder. He really didn’t want to think about it, because there wasn’t a point. Even knowing that they felt the same, they both knew that they couldn’t do anything about it. Sousuke refused to, as he put it, stand in the way of Rin’s future, which Rin thought was completely idiotic. But at the same time, Rin wanted to give Sousuke a chance to find his own dream, to find his way to happiness. So they had agreed taht nothing good would come from them doing anything about their feelings. It was an agreement that Rin regretted with every fiber of his being. So maybe it was a good thing that Sousuke didn’t text back, so Rin couldn’t say something stupid that would ruin everything.

Rin let his eyes fall shut, the song fading as it ended, and another started up. It was one of Sousuke’s favorites, something that he swore Rin would love. As he listened, Rin barely even heard the man singing; instead, he remembered all the time he had caught Sousuke humming this song while doing homework, or while reading a book, or just laying in bed. Sometimes, late at night, when he probably thought Rin was sleeping,  Rin would hear him singing softly to himself. On nights like that, it really didn’t take long to fall asleep, the quiet, dark tone of Sousuke’s voice lulling him to sleep faster than any lullaby ever would.

Someting bumped his foot, and he pulled them in, unaware he had been stretching them out in front of him, then settled back into his seat, eyes still shut. It wasn’t until something bumped him again that straightened up, eyes falling open in a glare. “Hey, cut it-” he started, only to find him self looking up into familar teal eyes.

Rin couldn’t speak. He was here. He said he wouldn’t come, but…

“You’re here?” He voice sounded choked, but Sousuke didn’t even seen to notice that he’d spoken, he had turned, glancing up at the flight board.

“You’ve got an hour,”He muttered, the he turned back and held out his hand. “Come on, I want to talk for a minute.” Rin nodded, grabbed his bag, and let Sousuke pull him up.

They walked until they came across a mostly empty hall. Sousuke leaned against the wall, but he didn’t look at Rin. He stared at the ground, the wall in front of him constantly shifting his gaze to anywhere but Rin.

“Hey, if your going to drag me off, then you better have something to say!”Rin huffed, kicking out his leg to nudge Sousuke’s. Sousuke just shook his head.

“I didn’t… I probably shouldn’t have come. But I couldn’t stay away. I just…” he groaned and tossed his head back, thudding softly against the wall. “I guess i just wanted to see you one more time.” His voice was tight and restrained, almost like he was forcing himself to say the words, and Rin snapped.

“Sou, this is ridiculous. I’m fucking sick of dancing around this,”

“Rin, we ca-”

“Like hell we can’t,” He snarled, stepping forward until he was practically in his face. He smelled like fresh chlorine and shampoo.  He was looking off to the side. “We can do whatever the hell we want. We know how we feel, and trying to ignore it is making us miserable. I don’t want to leave with something wrong between us.”

“There’s nothing wrong.” He muttered.

“Then look me in the eye! Look me in the goddamn eye and tell me that there’s nothing else between us. That your happy with what’s going on!”

Sousuke stilled, took a deep breath, and looked up, finally meeting Rin’s eyes. He opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head.

Rin took that as his opening. He leaned in, barely an inch away. “Sousuke, Can I kiss you? Please, can I kiss you?”

Sousuke’s eyes went wide, but he nodded, just barely, and that was enough. Rin closed the distance, and their lips met. At his touch, Sousuke came to life. His arms went around Rin, crushing him agasint his chest, one hand going up to tangle in his hair. Rin groaned under hsi lips when he tugged gently at his hair, his own arms going around his neck, trying to pull himself closer. He couldn’t breathe and his head was spinning, but he clung to Sousuke like his life depended on it.

It was Sousuke who broke away first, but he didn’t let go. He pressed soft kisses to Rin’s lips, his forehead, his cheek, anywhere he could reach.

Rin laughed, feeling light and happy. “Hey I just asked for a kiss, not all this.”

“Too bad,” Sousuke grumbled, leaning his forehead against Rin’s. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea. I don’t think I can let you go now.”

“You don’t have to,” Rin replied, eyes slipping shut as he reveled at the warmth of finally getting to hold Sousuke, the feel of him in his arms. “We can work through it.”

“Rin… I can’t hold you back. I can’t do that to you.”

“You won’t. Being miserable and never saying how I feel would have held me back. Being with you never will.”

“I can’t-”

“Oh, just shut up.” Rin pulled away to look at him, frowning. “Look, I love you, you idiot. We can work through everything else. We can call and text, and come visit each other. I can get you tickets to every one of my meets, and we can be together. We can get through this.”

Sousuke looked at him hesitantly, like he had something to say, but he shook his head. Rin glared, and Sousuke sighed.

“Or i could come with you.”

Rin stared at him, eyes wide. “What?”

Sousuke closed his eyes for a moment before saying, “My backpack has some stuff in it, and I’ve got some money to spend. Graduation gift. I could come with you, for a while. Figure out what I want to do.”

Rin stared, just for a moment, before nodding. “Sou, Are you sure?”

Sousuke nodded. “Rin, this last year with you reminded why swimming was so important to me. I may not be able to swim again. But maybe there are other ways i can still be a part of that life.”

“It will be harder in Australia, though. Your English sucks.”

“I can understand it well enough. Speaking is just a little difficult.”

“Speaking is an important part.”

“Well, I’ll just have to find a tutor.”

Rin smiled, leaning in close again. “Have anyone in mind?”

“Just one. But i’m not sure I can pay him.”

Rin laughed and pressed a quick kiss to Sousuke’s cheek. “I’m sure he’ll be willing to compromise.”

Sousuke nodded and removed one arm from around Rin to reach for his phone. “Better give Nanase a call then.”

“Ha, jokes on you. Haru’s useless at English.”

“Oh? And you know someone better for the job?”

“Don’t be an ass, Sou.”

Sousuke laughed, and the sound rumbled in his chest. “So, what do you think?”

Rin frowned, confused. “About what?”

“Me coming with you. Are you ok with it?”

“Of course. If it means we can be together, I’ll take whatever I can get. But, when you do decided what you want, you need to understand that it won’t change anything for us. Even if we have to be apart, or say goodbye for a while, it doesn't change what we are.”

Sousuke nodded, his hand slipping down to grasp and Rin’s. His eyes fixed on Rin’s, he raised the hand to press it to his lips.

“Guess I should go buy that ticket, then.”

“Wait,” Rin frowned as Sousuke began to pull away. “You have a bag packed, money with you, but you didn’t already have a ticket?”

Sousuke didn’t meet his gaze right away, grabbing his backpack that had been dropped on the floor. His voice was quiet when he finally did answer. “I didn’t know where I was going to go. But i knew i had to get out of here. Just for a while.”

Rin frowned, but just replied, “I guess that makes sense. But i don’t like the thought of you being alone. Besides,” he smiled, trying to lighten the mood a little. “You probably would have gotten lost.”

Sousuke smiled back, and they waked out from the hallway hand in hand. “Guess I won’t have that problem anymore though, huh?”

“You think? Australia’s pretty big.”

“Yeah, but I’ll be with you. If I’m with you, I’m never lost.”

Rin shook his head, the words making his face heat up. “That was corny, Sou, even for you.”

“Maybe, but it’s true.”

Rin laughed, and laned up against him as they walked. “Yeah well it’s true for me too.”

“Rin?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, basically my favorite band of all time released a new song, and that reminded me of an Idea i had a while back, where i wrote fics based on some of my favorite songs. So this one that actually got done, based on BSB's "In a World Like This" because no matter the distance, these two will always have each others back's, and if they don't bring all of my boys back together and give Sou a dream in this third season, i will riot.


End file.
